Roshan Sedhai

Sanju Gurung, 28, lent Rs 6 million to Rajendra Gurung to buy a plot of land in Kathmandu. The land was never bought and Sanju never saw her money again. After several failed attempts to recover the amount, she opted to take legal recourse.

However, Sanju did not go to the courts. She instead filed a complaint at the Department of Foreign Employment (DoFE), claiming that she was a victim of foreign employment fraud. “I was convinced that I would get my money back soon,” said Sanju, who managed to file the case through her “political connections.”

Going by the formal legal process in the country, such cases can stretch for years and the bills and lawyers’ fees keep mounting. Sanju’s lawyers, instead, suggested that she file a case with the DoFE if she really wanted her money back. She could get a verdict within three months, they said. Lawyers cited a provision that allows the foreign employment tribunal to look into cases of foreign employment fraud and resolve them within three months.

The tribunal either settles the cases itself or recommends them to the courts, depending on the nature of the case. Sanju’s is just one among hundreds of such complaints filed at the department that are not related to foreign employment. The DoFE has turned an easy platform to resolve cases relating to dhukutis, land fraud and financial disputes among family members, relatives and friends.

Officials admit that the department, mandated to adjudicate foreign employment cases, has been overwhelmed with unrelated cases of late. Barring aside a few instances of cases slipping through, unrelated cases reach the department in collusion with lawyers and even DoFE officials, often eclipsing justice for victims of foreign employment fraud.

The department sees an average of eight foreign employment fraud complaints every day, while just as many unrelated complaints are registered in collusion with officials and often involve kickbacks. Interestingly, people often register cases involving large sums of money swindled by friends, spouses, family members and relatives, said a legal officer at the DoFE.

“People do not hesitate to spend a portion of the money that will be recovered to bribe officials to have their cases registered,” the legal officer said. The officer further claimed that such cases are often filed on the recommendation of ministers and powerful officials.

DoFE Director General Purna Chandra Bhattarai admitted that the department was overwhelmed by cases not related to them. “We have directed clerks to thoroughly examine cases to see if they are related to foreign employment fraud before registering them,” he said, adding that his office has started orientation courses for officials to cope with such cases. “We have also started summoning lawyers who register such cases with us,” said Bhattarai.

Currently, more than 1,500 cases of fraud are pending at the DoFE. “These unrelated cases have put genuine ones on the backburner,” said the source.

Putting genuine cases on the backburner, the foreign employment tribunal is busy settling personal cases.

Published on: 18 October 2012 | The Kathmandu Post